I’m the Oldest US Olympian. I Still Have to Work a Full-Time Job.

This as-told-to essay is predicated on a dialog with Rich Ruohonen. It has been edited for size and readability.

I began curling once I was about 12 years outdated. My dad taught my brother and me. Curling was an illustration sport again then. I performed in school and in legislation college, however not at a degree near what I play now. I have been taking part in fairly competitively for the final 25 years.

I made my first males’s nationwide championship staff in 1998 after which once more in 2001. I have been to the final 21 out of 23 nationwide championships; I gained two of them. I’ve additionally been in Olympic trials. However the 2026 Olympics have been my first Olympics. I used to be the alternate on the US males’s curling team.

I’m the oldest US Olympian ever to compete.

It is uncommon to have a day job as an Olympian

I am a lawyer and a competitive curler. Most international athletes are paid by their governments to compete in curling, bobsledding, and so forth. Their solely job is to coach for the World Championships, which occur yearly, and the Olympics, which happen each 4 years. They could get a wage, have their bills paid, and get to maintain any winnings.

Sadly, within the US, that is not the way it works. It is one of many disadvantages of being a US athlete. It makes it tough to coach full-time. We do get a small stipend, however many US athletes have facet jobs.

I’ve to work coaching into my day job

My schedule is sophisticated. On every week when I’m not getting ready for a contest, I am on the gymnasium 4 days every week, leaving my home at 5:15 a.m. to drive 30 miles to the coaching facility. I am there at 6 a.m. and practice till 7:30 a.m., then leap within the bathe and rush to work. I work from 8 a.m. to six p.m., typically longer. I am going residence and typically work once more.

I play in a Tuesday night time league through the season. I additionally “throw rocks,” what we name observe in curling, a number of nights every week. I will usually throw on Saturdays and Sundays, two to 4 hours a day. Each waking second between these classes, I am working, together with the weekends, to get caught up at my day job.

After I’m on the street, I am nonetheless placing in 40 hours or extra of labor. It isn’t straightforward. It isn’t that I haven’t got any enjoyable, however it’s a lot of work. I do not sleep so much.

Curling at this degree is a significant dedication. There was a whole lot of sacrifice, together with from my spouse, who stayed residence as a result of I wasn’t there and who needed to do extra of the stuff with the youngsters, who’re 21 and 24 now.

Whereas the Olympics is perhaps over, I am nonetheless curling

I am taking part in within the senior World Championship in April. I’m certain I’m the one man to ever go to the senior World Championship and the Olympics in the identical 12 months. We hope to win gold this 12 months. I additionally do a whole lot of charity curling, equivalent to for the Lupus Basis. Individuals elevate cash to play with me as their skip.

There’s already been some curiosity in me taking part in within the 2030 Olympics, however it’s laborious to say sure. It has been an enormous dedication for 25 years. Although I would be in an alternate function once more in 2030, I am nonetheless required to do all of the practices and attend every part. These different curlers are of their 20s; I am twice their age. I have not absolutely determined. I am nonetheless throwing effectively sufficient to maintain taking part in, and I be ok with taking part in at this degree. However it’s tougher to rise up within the morning with my knees cracking on a regular basis. I additionally consider how good it could be to go to Mexico within the winter as a substitute of Calgary.